The invention relates to a radiological image acquisition manipulation system for multiple view stereoscopic imaging. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for acquiring radiological images of a patient, manipulating said images, and presenting said manipulated images in a manner which presents a viewer with multiple discrete stereoscopic views of a patient.
X-rays or Radiographs may be thought of as an image composed of superimposed and overlapping shadows, created on a detector or film, after the x-rays have passed through a portion of a patient. The interpretation of these overlapping shadows requires many years of training. Any process which helps to clarify an x-ray or present that image in a way that is more easily interpreted is a tremendous aid to the Radiologist and can help the Radiologist make a more accurate and reliable diagnosis for the patient.
The phenomenon of monocular human vision is complex enough without considering the neurophysiology of binocular vision. For normal monocular vision to take place the eye is presented with light from the real world. An image is then focused by the lens onto the retina, stimulating neural impulses via the optic nerve, which then stimulate the visual cortex in the occipital lobe of the brain. Thereby, the brain perceives a 2-dimensional image of the scene.
In binocular, stereoscopic vision, each eye contributes one of 2 views of the same scene, with just the right amount of angular misregistration, or parallax. The two slightly incongruous images presented to the right and left occipital lobes are then fused through a complex neurophysiological process into a single scene in which true, 3-dimensional depth information is perceived by the viewer.
Stereoscopic radiography, however, fell into disfavor due to recognition of the dangers of ionizing radiation (since 2 exposures are required for 1 stereoscopic image) and due to the cumbersome nature of the equipment required to view the stereo pairs.
More recent attempts at applying stereoscopic imaging to radiography centered around using either two x-ray tubes, a specialized dual focal-spot x-ray tube, or a single, rotating x-ray tube to acquire the stereoscopic pairs of images. These techniques have made use of image intensifiers, video technology, analog-to-digital conversion, and various visual display techniques to more effectively create stereoscopic fluoroscopy and angiography.
As sophisticated as these techniques are, however, they still duplicate the type of stereoscopic pairs that were created in the early part of the 20th century. There are no previous examples in the art, of a technique to manipulate and exploit the anatomic, spatial, and pathologic data inherent in the images themselves.
Further, none of these techniques provide the viewer with multiple stereoscopic views obtained from a single pair of acquired images.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.